How A Solo Canoe Film Becomes Cinema

A canoe trip can be a quick highlight reel, or it can be a true short film that feels like you’re sitting in the boat, hearing the water, and watching the light change minute by minute. We sit down with Pete Park from Latitude Wilderness Films to get the inside story behind The Canoeist, his new cinematic wilderness film built around a solo paddler’s journey for peace, solitude, and meaning far from cell service and noise. 

Pete shares why he wanted to go beyond the usual first-person canoe tripping format and instead craft a poetic story told through voiceover, ambience, and carefully planned shots. We get specific on outdoor filmmaking and canoe film production: the Lumix G85 and GoPro setup for rapids, how he captures slow motion with the right frame rates, and why clean audio matters as much as stunning visuals. He also explains the realities of shooting in Ontario’s French River and Georgian Bay delta channels, including continuity problems, multiple takes on the same rapid, and the rare gift of perfect late-September conditions. 

The heart of the conversation is the “why” behind the camera. Pete talks about writing narration after filming so the script grows out of real moments, including an unexpected misty morning sequence that became a centrepiece. He also reflects on weaving in David’s personal story, the film’s dedication, and how long-term editing can shape a more honest outdoor story. 

Watch The Canoeist when it premieres on YouTube (Latitude Wilderness Films) and tell us what scene hits you the hardest. Subscribe, share the episode with a paddling buddy, and leave a review so more campers and canoeists can find the show.

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Transcript

Welcome And Guest Introduction

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hello and good day. Welcome to the SuperKit Camping Podcast. My name is Pamela.

SPEAKER_02 0:04

I'm Tim.

SPEAKER_01 0:04

And we are from SuperKitCamping.com. We're here because we're on a mission to inspire other people to get outside and enjoy camping adventures such as we have as a family. Today's guest is a gentleman we've had the absolute pleasure of having on the podcast about four years ago to talk about an amazing canoeing adventure movie he made. It turns out that he's made another gorgeous visual work of art, and he's here to tell us all about it. Please welcome Pete Park of Latitude Wilderness Films.

SPEAKER_00 0:29

Hey, welcome. Well, hello, Tim and Pamela. Thank you very much for having me. It's been a while.

SPEAKER_02 0:34

Hello, hello. Thanks for coming out, man.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

Absolutely.

Why Make The Canoeist

SPEAKER_02 0:38

I honestly I've been thinking about it. I don't even know where to start. So North to South is was our first sort of introduction. Amazing. French River, the uh the old canoe routes, uh stunning visual piece of work. Like I it's there, there is always the discussion about well, I yeah, but I make YouTube videos. Okay, this is a movie, man. Is that there is a difference to it? Like I get that you you put as many hours in or whatever. Right. This is a movie. I I've worked in that industry for the better part of 20 years. I can tell you this is a movie versus a video. Yeah, um, it was awesome. So much work, and I'm sure I didn't ask all the right questions back then because I the jumping forward, having discussed your new movie that's coming out uh that's coming out literally days after this publishes. Um man. Okay, so let's start with. So, what what was what gave you the idea that that this the movie's called The Canoeist? What gave you the idea that this is what something you wanted to do and that this was sort of the direction that you wanted to go in? Because it's a very unique, it's cool. I'm not I'm not gonna do any spoilers.

SPEAKER_01 2:03

Yeah, I think you want to give stuff away.

SPEAKER_02 2:05

Yeah, no, no, no, I don't.

SPEAKER_00 2:08

Yeah, yeah. You've had uh the pleasure of a sneak peek. So um which I'll probably give so much.

SPEAKER_02 2:13

Oh, of course.

SPEAKER_00 2:14

No, I'm I was honestly very happy to get your feedback on it. So I I do appreciate that very much, especially from someone who's worked in film uh like you. So it was great to have that uh feedback. So I appreciate that. And I probably will give away little tidbits here and there as we go along without giving away too much. Uh you can do it in a message.

SPEAKER_02 2:29

I'm not gonna wear that. That's all.

SPEAKER_00 2:30

Yeah, okay, I'll wear it. That's fine. But um, what gave me the idea? So uh north to south was an idea that I had um back in probably late 2019, early 2020, something like that. And then we filmed it in 2020. Up to that point, um, I had been known as Ontario Fishing Quest on my channel. So I was you know going canoeing, going on a bass boat, going fishing, trying to share fishing tips uh about bass fishing, muskie fishing, pike walleye in the province of Ontario, filming stuff with the GoPro Hero 3 Plus and putting out pretty terrible footage. And um, but I was learning the ropes and I had a lot of fun with it. But um when I started canoeing um and filming that, I I I guess I discovered the uh how I wanted to capture the emotion behind canoeing and why we canoe, why we get out there to do what we do, why we choose to get lost in the wilderness and disconnect with no self-service or anything like that. So I wanted to try and capture that. Um and so I put out a series uh about a trip I did in Tomogamy that was called Eight Days Solo. And it showed a little bit of, I suppose, the emotion side, or it was kind of some ambience to it. And I really loved that. And I wanted to do more of that. So um at the time and still to this day, even more so, um, YouTube is pretty saturated with um a very similar feel of canoe tripping video. Um, and I'm not knocking anyone who does this, but what I wanted to do was step out and do something that hadn't quite been attempted before. So um when I got the idea for the canoeist, I thought, well, has anyone filmed someone else? And has anyone written a script or um film someone else doing what a canoeist would do? Or has anyone made a movie, you know, instead of a video? Has someone, um, unless you go back to like Bill Mason days, has someone done that? And as much as I could research, I didn't see anything that had been done like that in recent years. And so I thought it could be really cool to try my hand at not really a first-person vlog type video, but um rather coming up with an idea to tell someone's story and tell the story of a solo canoeist and why he chooses to uh adventure into the wilderness and lose himself out there. So yeah, I guess the idea sparked um a creative vein in me that I began writing uh ideas down, getting uh ideas of who I would want to film in it as well, getting my cousin Bill on board, and then uh we started running with it. So the idea was born from wanting to step out and do something different. Um not even so much to be noticed, but just to do it because I wanted to do it and because I love doing it. And so yeah, I'd say that's where the idea came from.

Cameras And Filming In Rapids

SPEAKER_02 5:35

All right, cool. Um, so so how do I not give it away? The well, you know what? Let's start with the the nuts and bolts. What kind of camera did you use this time? Not not a Hero 3.

SPEAKER_00 5:52

Right, no, not the Hero 3. Um, so I use a uh it's actually this camera right now that I'm recording on. This is my good old faithful Lumix G85, uh, and it's it's a beast of a camera, but in a small package. And uh so I brought it along and uh brought along two GoPro Hero 9s this time, and I think a third GoPro Hero 8 as well. And so between all three of those, um we were able to do most of the filming on the good camera in 4K 24 frames a second. Um also going to 30 frames a second for some slow-mo slowed down 80%, uh, 1080p at 60 frames a second, slowed down to 40%, and that makes a nice, you know, creamy film-like slow-mo look. Um and then the GoPros were just for action shots, which I will give this away that you know there's some rapid segments through this uh film too, um, that I'm not gonna take this camera in the canoe for. So uh it would be, you know, GoPros on the front and the back of uh the actor's canoe, and um, you know, get the shots of his face going through rapids or the splashes, that kind of thing. So trying to really capture that raw, you know, first person look of going through rapids and whatnot. So yeah, it was a Lumix G85, which is still an amazing camera, and uh three GoPros.

SPEAKER_02 7:10

Sweet. Uh, what did you do sound on?

SPEAKER_00 7:12

Sound was uh through a couple different means, one through a microphone, a road microphone that would go on the Lumix camera. And then I also have a separate task cam portable recorder that um we would do double audio with. So what we would do is uh for a scene that we would film, we would have uh so the actor's name is David. I'm just gonna say that now and we'll get into that more later. But uh, you know, I would film David doing this or that, and so I'd capture the audio from the main camera and then also have the separate task cam recording audio on the side as well. And then whatever audio source was better, I would just go with that one. And uh, because usually a separate audio source that's right up by him is you know a lot better than the camera from the audio from the camera that could be back 10, 15 feet kind of thing. So, and all you do is you just do a clap and you sync up the audio on both sources. You go into post, you line up where the clap is happening, and then you can swap the audio from one to the other, and and uh it really sounds clean and crisp. So, yeah, and I'm happy with the way the audio turned out.

SPEAKER_02 8:12

Yeah, me too.

SPEAKER_00 8:13

That's good, thank you.

SPEAKER_02 8:16

Just before we started recording it, they it came up that I might be a little anal retentive about editing stuff.

SPEAKER_00 8:22

Yeah, it sounds yeah, that's okay. Audio really does make uh most of the experience, I think. Visually, that's huge, but if the audio is terrible, it's it's takes away from any of the visual aspects that you're going for.

Learning Cinematic Technique By Practice

SPEAKER_02 8:33

So agreed, it's distracting. Yeah, for sure. Um so you you say things like creamy shots and talk about frame rates and how it how it adjusts, sorry, how it how it frames the shot. And I don't mean that in a box frame, I mean in in motion what kind of a shot you're putting. Exactly. Um that's not a right, like you know, just pull it out of your butt kind of a thing. How did you is is it simply just putting in the time to try different things, fail miserably, and until you go, oh, there it is. That's what I want to do, or we're getting close. I'm gonna adjust this. Is that is that because you you have not just the I don't I don't mean just the oh you know, speeds and apertures and and things like that, like not not just the the mathy parts, there are there are movements that you make that are cinematic. I don't I don't really don't know a better way to put it. Um how did you get to like this is a visually stunning film for me? I but obviously it's a this is a a subject I'm in love with, but this is fantastic. Like there are I'm not I'm not gonna tell there are shots that creep around something and then catch a light and you s and it turns into a vista that you didn't see coming, right? Like that sort of stuff. How did all of that how did all of that come together for you, man?

Locations And A Small Crew

SPEAKER_00 9:55

Which I know is a long answer. No, no, it's okay. Um trial and error, big time. Um, north to south filming that was my first attempt at doing something with that cinematic element to it. I had tried bits and pieces of it with GoPros and that, um, just by doing research on okay, what frame rate do I film in to do slow-mo, and then how do you actually make it look like it's smooth and fluid and not uh, you know, uh staggered and jagged and that kind of a look. And so uh that was just internet research that uh told me the frame rates to shoot at, what percentage to slow it down to, like what my timeline um frame rate should be in. And so uh I learned all that and then just tried it on the the old GoPros and it got some like okay results. And then when I got my G85 camera, um that was just a world of wow, this is amazing in 4K, 2430, you know, 60 frames a second and 1080. But um and then slowing it down, I would just I would go outside and take random shots. I would film random things, I would film my wife, I would film whatever, and just try it and you know, bring it into DaVinci Resolve and drop it in there, change the percentage of the speed into what would be fluid in a 24 frame a second timeline. And um, and it's like it's fluid, it's beautiful, it's cinematic. And then you start playing with light and um and the sun and you know, the sun rays with your aperture and stuff like that. And it just wow, it blew my mind when I started discovering what a camera could really do. And I just had to have the know-how how to do it. So it was just through a lot of research, uh, trial and error, annoying people with my camera. And uh, you know, but and then just doing it, just doing it was what solved it for me. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:47

How long did it take you to film this?

SPEAKER_00 11:49

Ah, well, that uh so this uh was filmed over uh a five-day period. Um, I think we had scheduled six days in case of wind to get the different locations that we were in, but um this was filmed over, I think, pretty much a five-day period from start to finish. And uh the camera was on most of the time. Um and yeah, so five days of footage goes into a 47-minute long film after five years of editing kind of thing, right? So pretty unbelievable.

SPEAKER_02 12:26

Yeah, I figured as much. Um I again, I won't give it away, but I know where you did some of the filming. Are you are you interested in mentioning where you did the filming?

SPEAKER_00 12:37

Sure. Um, so there's there's three different locations that are used uh in the film. Um one of them goes without saying because as soon as people see it, they're gonna recognize it. Uh French River, obviously, there's a good chunk of the film uh done there, the whole first half is done there pretty much. Um especially uh especially in the area of the Five Mile Rapids, uh Lone Pine Rapid, Big Pine Rapid, and Blue Shoot. We do a lot of filming around there, and a big chunk of the story is told in that part. And um and then the next part is uh is one that I the next two locations I'll say are not far away, but I wouldn't want to give away the exact location, and and that's only because uh it's it's a place that I love going to. It's a place that uh David, uh Bill, um or the people close to us like to go. And so I don't want to give away the exact location, but it's not far away. It's not far away. And if you do enough satellite research on Google, you'd probably be able to find it. But uh all of that in that Georgian Bay Delta area um and the channels of the French Pickle River, all that area is just stunning, stunning to canoe in, it's stunning to film in. So, what better location to film in, right? Very cool, very cool.

SPEAKER_01 13:53

Yeah, and so there's yourself and the actor, and uh is that anybody else in your crew?

SPEAKER_00 13:58

So we had my cousin uh Bill along, and Bill was the guy in uh north to south who paddled along with me. And uh Bill and I, he's my number one paddling partner. We've done I did the math about a year ago, and it's been even more since then. But at that time we had paddled over a thousand kilometers together, and I think now we're probably up at 1,500, 1,600 kilometers together. And um so he's the lead hand, that would be his role in this. So um whereas I I wrote it, filmed 98% of it, um, edited it, you know, all that stuff, promoted it. Bill was the lead hand doing everything. Uh, so he would be the one setting up camp if I was filming. He'd also be along holding another camera for a secondary view. Um, I'd look over footage with him and get his ideas, and so he was a key part of it. And uh so I couldn't have done it without him. So it was Bill and I together in one canoe, and then David, the actor, in uh his own canoe. And David is portraying a solo canoeist going on a journey um for his own reasons, and uh, and then Bill and I would uh chase after him and film him doing his thing. We'd help him carry his portage loads and um because he'd have to do things several times to get the right take, right? And so I'm not gonna make him carry a load three times over a portage, so we would carry it and then he'd have to, you know, lift it up, do a shot and whatever. So yeah, I couldn't have done it without Bill. But uh yeah, on the trip, it was just myself, Bill, and David.

SPEAKER_02 15:28

I can't believe you got all that footage in in five days, and and that footage is like a whack edited down, so yeah.

Weather Luck And The Mist Sequence

SPEAKER_00 15:36

Yeah, massively. Yeah, and we didn't know what we were gonna encounter either, right? Because we had scheduled this timing. It was the end of September 2021, and so it's going back a long time now. There's a lot of reasons why this has taken so long to come out. But uh but back then we had scheduled this time uh to go. You have no idea what you're gonna encounter, you have no idea what weather's gonna be during a five-day period or six-day period at the end of September in Ontario, Northern Ontario at that. Um French River area, the wind is can be horrible. It can be terrible. We could have rained, you know, it could have rained for five days. But um, we had the absolute best conditions I think I've ever, ever been out there, not even in the fall, but any time of year. And I mean, the I will share a little bit about this because I want to create a bit of interest with people, but there's a segment that I that the film spends quite a bit of time on, and it's David paddling through mist on a in a second morning of his trip. And we had no idea that mist was gonna be there. We had no idea what we were gonna be facing, right? But we took advantage of every opportunity that we had to capture what I think turned out to be some of the best footage that I've ever captured. And um it was an unbelievably beautiful, peaceful scene that we knew we've got to take advantage of this. And so we altered our plans for the day in order to spend a lot of time, you know, pretty much all morning, just filming different segments of the mist and David paddling through the mist, you know, and slow motion. That just I'm so happy with how it turned out. And I know it's uh I felt that that segment in the film is maybe just a bit long, but Bill reminded me that, like, no, this is where focus needs to be. This is, you know, this is money stuff. You've got to keep this in just like that. And so uh so I kept it in in uh a good lengthy segment there, and I'm excited for people to see that because um it was such a beautiful experience to capture, and we were all stunned with just how beautiful it really was. So yeah, it was amazing.

SPEAKER_02 17:41

Yes. But I want to wax poetic about it. No, shut up.

SPEAKER_01 17:46

I was gonna say it's probably literally stunning, but also figuratively it's got some meaning too.

SPEAKER_02 17:53

Yeah, well, it's so I mean that's part of the you're visually storytelling, you also do vocal storytelling. When people tell their canoe stories, it's the ones that come out that are the most fun to say are the ones that were the most disastrous, or the ones where you saw something amazing, like like like paddling uh uh, you know, a mist covered lake or mist covered river. Uh that's that's going to be one of your favorite stories to tell. You're trying to, you know, you're forever trying to trying to put it into words what you that that beauty that you saw that day or whatever. So I think Bill was bang on by hanging there on it because I certainly didn't, it didn't feel long to me at all. Good, good. I appreciate hearing that. Thank you. You're welcome.

SPEAKER_01 18:41

Things resonate, you know, like I just they do.

SPEAKER_02 18:45

They do. I keep I keep thinking about how much editing that would be. Man, yeah, like I don't I don't edit my own videos. Like, forget it. Right, right, yeah. Crazy, crazy. Yeah, it can be painful, but worth it. Yeah, well, absolutely. And there you go. I mean, uh uh having seen the film, yeah, absolutely worth it. Uh but also I didn't have to do the editing, so yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:08

It was it was worth we feel it was worth your time. Thanks.

SPEAKER_02 19:12

Anything for you guys. Appreciate it, man. Oh, all right. Uh so the mist was a favorite part. Was there anything like and and your amazing like catching those sun rays, especially at sort of different heights and stuff like that, was it was something I I noticed where it wasn't quite in your eyes, but it just the it was like the length of the sun rays. There was something about it and the flavor of it. Um what else did you what what did you really love about doing that?

SPEAKER_00 19:52

Yeah. Um I love playing with the sun because visually it can give you so much depending on what you do, the angle you film it, what you do with your camera, with your aperture and your your uh your ND filter, which is a thing you put on the end of your lens where you can adjust for the light so you could stare right into the sun and not be blinded by it. Um these are all just tricks that I learned during all that time. I was playing around filming random people and stuff. Um but I love capturing uh the sunlight, the clouds, all of that. Um because it's about you know, it is about David and his journey out there, but he's out there in in nature, he's out there in uh this majestic, majestic environment. And the sun is beating down on him at times, other times the clouds are covering them. But um, you know, I love trying to capture that and show what he would be seeing. And playing with the light is just really fun. And in post, when you're editing the things you can do with it, it just it to make it really, really show what you're experiencing when you actually saw it is really, really fun. It's rewarding to do, and sun rays and slow motion is really cool. I like that too. So um, yeah. So, in short, I loved capturing every bit of uh every element of uh of nature and and sunlight, definitely.

Narration Plan And David’s Story

SPEAKER_02 21:07

Cool. Um the narration, uh did you have that or I I was gonna say, did you have that written before you went to shoot it, or did you have like an overarch of that idea before you went to shoot?

SPEAKER_00 21:24

Well, we started. Um I didn't have a script written. I just went with uh the idea of, you know, I actually I have an email pulled up that I sent to David and Bill at the very beginning of all this. And I'm just gonna read uh in my own words what I would have written back then. So the vision I have for this film is a poetic ambient story of one canoeist who paddles to find solitude and peace. The words will all be spoken through voiceover. David, David, you won't have to speak to the camera at all. If we get into the rapids and there are some tense moments for you, I wouldn't want you to hold back any words, even if you swear, honestly. And I I'd include those in the film, I'd beep them out because that's reality. I'll have a GoPro hidden in your canoe that will capture your face expressions and any words that you say as Bill and I film you from shore. But other than that, it'll all be through voiceover that will be written uh after the film is done. So we went into it with that idea, and then I knew we would be facing all kinds of different conditions or challenges, and so I thought I would write the script around what we experienced because that would be the footage that I would have captured. So it went in there with uh just that general idea, and then uh due to everything that we experienced, the rest of the story kind of came to be. And I'll get into this a little bit as well, that um I get into telling a bit of David's own story. So the story of David's life and why he ended up uh getting into canoeing, um, getting lost in nature in the first place, and due to experiences in his youth, and um, which I'll let the film explain, and I don't want to explain any more than what he's given me the liberty to share, but um I wanted to uh I wanted people to I guess be able to look at themselves and look at the reasons as to why they do it. You know, what uh what has caused them to seek sanctuary in uh in the wilderness? What has caused them to seek sanctuary by paddling a canoe by themselves? And the film explains a bit of why David chose to do that, and my own reasons are very much the same. And I think a lot of canoeists will uh relate to that. So um yeah, I didn't go in there with an exact word-for-word script written, just a general idea. And thankfully, as after the filming was finished and um I reviewed all the footage, it really came obvious that I should tell a bit of David's personal story through this too, and as long as he would be okay with it, and it and he was, and so we worked through that over quite a bit of time. And uh and the end result, you get a little snippet into David's personal life. Um and uh I will say this as well that um at the time uh David's mother was going through um a lot of concerns health-wise, and her health wasn't very good. She was a um a fortress in his life. And so at the time of filming, um, her health was in grave concern. He still came out and did the project and allowed me to talk about it in the film. Well, in uh in 2023, David's mother actually passed away. And so um the film is dedicated to her memory. And so um being able to share a bit of her story of her fortitude and valor in uh raising her children, um, it was an honor to do that. So I couldn't have had that script written at the time either, right? So um all of those things came about afterwards over the next few years uh after filming. So there's a little um snippet, I suppose.

SPEAKER_02 25:07

Yes, it is it's yes. I got nothing. Uh I I follow David, so I've I've seen I've seen snippets as well, and and big hug from me.

SPEAKER_00 25:23

Yeah, yeah, pretty sure.

Editing Choices And The 47 Minute Cut

SPEAKER_02 25:25

Okay. Uh all right, so so a million, a million hours later of of editing and stuff. Uh did it what were as you were editing, was it intentional to end up in the uh 47 minutes, I think, is the the number? Uh because the north to south was quite a bit longer, hour 15, something like that.

SPEAKER_00 25:53

Yeah, roughly, yeah. Yeah, it's very close to that. Yeah. It was uh I wanted it under an hour. Um and I did that just I think for viewer retention for one. Um I learned with North to South as well. The chapters I think are helpful because people um, you know, for a longer uh video or film, they they'll they'll watch a chapter, then leave, then come back and watch another chapter later. So I did um an introductory segment for the canoeist and then two chapters. Um North to South was five. Um I did it at under an hour because I thought I didn't know how this would work. But if any TV network ever wanted to grab this, they would have some room for commercials and it would fill up an hour segment. So I have no idea if that will actually ever happen. Probably not. But uh but that was the idea, actually, was making it so it could work with television if it ever got to that point.

Release Date And Where To Watch

SPEAKER_02 26:48

Excellent, excellent idea because yes, 47 minutes is is about right. Um, but on that topic, I mean, just I'm who knows? Having worked in film, I know about you know festivals and stuff like that. So I've started to look into some, and they're there's like a 50-minute, 55-minute cutoff to go from uh a short to a full length. And I think, especially for people that because you're you look you're looking at a fairly wide audience for people that aren't the nuts like us that are out there, you know, paddling and stuff like that, like that, that don't I think it's a great thing to put it in as a short because it their their attention span, as to to your point about chapters, their attention span won't wander as much. Uh I think that has a really good potential to hit home with them uh in that time frame. Just th thoughts that I've had. All right. So I want everybody to go watch it. Uh tell us, tell us where they're gonna be able to see it, when they're gonna be able to see it.

SPEAKER_00 28:01

So it's gonna be premiering on uh my YouTube channel, Latitudes Wilderness Films, Friday, March 27th at 7 p.m. Eastern time. I've been giving away little snippets here and there through social media over the last month or so. Um and then yeah, the thing will go live um March 27th at 7 p.m. I'll be glad when that's uh finally finally done.

SPEAKER_02 28:25

Yeah, I hear you, man. Uh yes, folks, if you haven't seen the shorts and the reels um that Pete's put out, I'm pretty sure. Well, because you you tagged me in them, you could go to our uh uh Instagram account. Uh I don't I honestly don't know what the heck I've been doing on YouTube lately. We're stupidly busy with recording like every opportunity we have these days, so I don't know what I'm doing at all. Um but go check out our if you don't see uh Pete's latitude's Instagram, check out ours because the the shorts are there as well, and they're they're stunning, and they're just little bits, just tiny glimpses into what is uh honest to God, it's a work of art, man. Like it's it's fantastic. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01 29:10

That was so immersive. That was the thing I felt with. It felt like you were in that place.

SPEAKER_02 29:17

Yeah, well, and and I mean history, uh like the storytelling is isn't isn't one-dimensional. There's many layers to it, which I think is again, it's fantastic stuff, man. Yeah, thank you both. I really appreciate that. Absolutely, man.

SPEAKER_01 29:35

Was there anything that happened in the filming, Pete, that was unexpected?

Continuity Challenges In Nature

SPEAKER_00 29:38

Anything that went awry, anything that we said, nothing went wrong. That's the thing. Nothing went wrong. It went perfectly, perfectly great. That's the thing, is like we were so so so blessed to have the conditions that we did, the scenes that we did, the scenery that we got, it was just amazing. Like I see little flubs here and there where it's like, you know, because David would have to do things three or four times, and just in one thing is like all the like the rapid shots, David had to run each rapid three times, right? So I'm just that's how much this takes to do, right? And so you film it from different angles, and yeah, anyways. Uh so everything, all that went great. It was just amazing how well it all went. So um, I was stoked um with everything that we were able to to accomplish and film and do during that five-day period where it was who knew what the weather was going to be or if David would tip over and all his stuff was gonna be lost. I mean, you just have no idea. But uh, we were blessed with the the best conditions absolutely possible.

SPEAKER_02 30:46

So it's good good for you. I was yeah, I was thinking that uh at one point must have been brutal to have because you're you're dealing with nature. Nate nature's not interested in following your script. So continuity, like shot continuity, must have been must have been difficult to do.

SPEAKER_00 31:03

Very, very, yeah, very challenging. And um even piecing together uh chapter one to chapter two to try and keep a story moving was tricky because uh, you know, I didn't even have the idea of doing two chapters and how one would flow into the next. I'm just out there filming everything that I can with a general idea of what I want to do, and then you have to piece it together. And so um thankfully it worked out okay, and even continuity between the chapters, even though they were done on different days, um, looks like it's one one day, and it wasn't, it was two days. It was over. Uh, there was a night in between there. So um I'm pretty happy with how that turned out.

SPEAKER_02 31:45

So yeah, and you didn't it didn't look like I I paddled the French before. It I wind bound was a thing, headwinds it on an eight-day trip. I think I spent about 15 minutes with a tailwind. Yeah, you know, so all of those things, right?

SPEAKER_00 32:02

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the way it is. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:04

And it didn't matter whether I was paddling into Georgian Bay or paddling out of Georgian Bay, headwinds the whole time.

SPEAKER_00 32:12

Always.

SPEAKER_02 32:13

Yeah, headwind sucker. But gorgeous. Like those rocks and stuff, it's just it's beautiful.

unknown 32:19

Mm-hmm.

Future Trips And Next Film Projects

SPEAKER_00 32:19

Mm-hmm. Yeah, it's definitely one of the most picturesque places to paddle in our province, no question.

SPEAKER_02 32:25

Well, I'm glad I you know what? Just the the uh I'm glad you chose David. A A, he's a good, he's a he's a he's an outdoors man, uh, a good paddler. And he for whatever it was, like he it he looked like he was in the moment, but he was introspective throughout as well, which is kind of David.

SPEAKER_00 32:48

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, and he'll tell you like he he hated the acting part. Um, he was relieved when I told him he didn't have to say anything and that you know the story was going to be told through voiceover and whatnot. And so he was like, Oh, that's great, thank you. But uh, and so he he'll be the first to tell you that he felt awkward on the other end of the camera for once, because he films people all the time. Um but uh for him to have to do things three, four times, me telling him, okay, do that again a little slower, you know, lift that up and put that on your shoulders again, just a little bit slower. I know it's grueling, but please do it. He was so great. He was great to deal with. He never once complained. Uh, he loved the experience. And we got to know him. Um, like we had talked, David and I, for probably about a year before we actually did this. Um, and this was the first time we met in person. So um I I knew he would be a solid dude. I mean, no question. But I was floored when I actually met him in person of just how kind and genuine he was. And um, and he remains that way to this day through this whole process. So um, in fact, our friendship is just getting uh, I'd say stronger as the years have gone on, um, especially in the talks of this coming out, um, everything he's been dealing with, and I have too. Um, we're we're drawing a lot closer together as friends. And uh we're gonna be doing a trip together in August, no, uh, no, September, sorry, of 2026, uh, into Quebec. So I'm pretty stoked for that one. So yeah, I couldn't have picked a better guy to be the canoeist other than David.

SPEAKER_02 34:20

I was gonna say that's that's a good paddle partner right there, man.

SPEAKER_00 34:23

For sure. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 34:24

And will you be filming this Quebec?

Gray Owl Idea And Closing Thanks

SPEAKER_00 34:27

That's to be determined. Uh so that it's a it's a big white water trip. And so I don't know how that will go. And and it's myself and David, and there's two other fellas coming along with us. We're each solo canoeing. So uh I don't know how it'll go with filming, so I'm not 100% sure if I'm gonna do that. What I will say though is uh Bill and I um have paddled the Missinaibie River over the last couple of years. We did it in two different trips, and we've filmed the entire thing, and I'd like to do a documentary about that in the same style as North to South. And uh I have hopes of doing some interviews with people and um taking North to South up another level in terms of quality and um and cinematography, all of that stuff. So that's gonna be the project that begins as soon as the canoeist is released, and so I don't know how much more I want to film and try and put out while I'm working on that one. So that's uh that's where I think I'll put my focus, but who knows? My mind might change and we'll see. We'll see.

SPEAKER_02 35:29

Well, uh speaking of mind changes, I think when we talked last time, you were who the heck was it? You you were who's the Gray Al Gray?

SPEAKER_01 35:39

That was it.

SPEAKER_02 35:39

You were you were toying with doing something with that. Right. Did you did you get started into it? Did you just go, nope, I'm doing the canoeist?

SPEAKER_00 35:48

Right. Uh I did shift to the canoeist. Um, I did put out a little trailer because I put I I I filmed an introductory segment, edited that segment, and um, and then began to get a storyline together. I got details of Gray Owl's life together. Um and then the canoeist came up and I did shift focus to that. Um the gray owl project is one that um I still really want to do, but I'm gonna be vulnerable here. That that's a very hard one to do. Um just because of I want to do it absolutely perfectly. And so Gray Owl, um, he struggled with a lot of addiction issues and things like that. And I I really want to um focus on that topic. So bringing in a real-world hard, difficult topic into a canoeing documentary. So um it's deeply personal to me, and I really want to do it well. And so I'm not gonna do that one until my slate's totally clear of any other projects or anything like that. The footage might be 10 years old by that point. Um, but so be it. I think the uh what I would like to share and and uh with the world about those kind of issues um, I think would be relevant at that time too. So that's where I'm at with that one.

SPEAKER_02 37:05

Cool. Well, I highly doubt that they those issues would ever not be relevant. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Especially in the crazy world we live in now. Exactly. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:16

That's it for us for today. Thank you so much to Pete Park from Latitudes Wilderness Films for giving us all the inside scoop on his upcoming The Canoeist film on YouTube. Please check it out on Friday, the 27th of March, 2026, at 7 p.m. Uh, and check him out on Instagram. He's at latitudes.films. And you can check us out while you're there. We are at Super Underscore Good Underscore Camping on Instagram and we're on all the social media. And if you would like to talk to us, you can we email anytime. We are at hi at supergoodcamping.com. That's H I at Supergoodcamping.com, and we'll talk to you again soon. Bye bye.

SPEAKER_02 37:53

Bye.